


Fire in the Sky

by startaroux



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Competition, Friendship, Gen, Skypiea (One Piece), Teamwork, i miss their stupid little competitions so much, two idiots trying to fulfill their captain's wishes: the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26807440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startaroux/pseuds/startaroux
Summary: Leave it to Zoro to get lost and for Sanji to have to find him and fix everything.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro & Sanji
Comments: 12
Kudos: 79





	Fire in the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> This is meant to be purely platonic, but if you know me you know I don't give a shit how it's read.

“This way, idiot.”

Sanji grabbed Zoro by the collar and yanked him back in the direction they were supposed to be walking, rolling his eyes at the dramatic huff he got for it. He hadn’t yanked _that_ hard. Sheesh. 

Twigs cracked and leaves rustled underfoot as they continued on through the gargantuan forest, both of the same mindset for once: Their captain wanted a bonfire, and so a damn bonfire he would surely get. 

It was going to have to be a huge one, too; bigger was always better in Luffy’s eyes, everyone knew that, so this would have to be the biggest bonfire any of them had ever set ablaze. And for that, they would need more firewood than they could shake a stick at. Or a sword.

But the two of them just stumbling around, tripping over each other and bumping into tree roots as big as themselves wasn’t going to get them anywhere on this quest they’d chosen. Sanji and Zoro didn’t exactly work _well_ together under most mundane circumstances. No, to get them both on the same wavelength, it usually took a major crisis or a battle or some sort of a—

“Marimo,” Sanji said, tilting his head and glancing to the side as an idea suddenly flashed into his mind. He grinned, earning an eyebrow quirk and a look of confusion from the walking moss himself. “Bet I could gather more firewood by myself if I didn’t have you here dragging me down.” 

And it was almost _absurd_ how quickly that moron snapped to attention at the mere mention of a challenge, perking up like a mangy cat that just spotted its dinner scurrying across the floor. 

Almost, though Sanji learned a long time ago that Zoro was one of the most absurd human beings to ever breathe the same air as he did. Could Sanji even still call him human at this point, anyway? There had to be some type of plant monster somewhere in the guy’s genealogy.

“You telling me you’re looking for a contest, Curly?” Zoro’s returning grin was even more unhinged than Sanji’s own, and the cook was pretty damn excited about this idea already. “‘Cause taking a look at our record, I don’t think you have a chance in hell.”

Fucker. Just because he’d won the last round didn’t mean anything at all. Their most recent Who Can Kill The Most Marines contest had been rigged from the start because there had been a majority of _women_ on board that ship for fuck’s sake.

“Shitty swordsman-” Sanji stepped up to the obvious bait (because of fucking course he did, he _always_ did, that was the whole goddamn point) and pushed his forehead up against the moss-covered one in front of him, grin so wide it was starting to hurt his face. “I bet I can collect and carry back two, no, _three times_ as much firewood as you can. You can kiss your little winning streak goodbye.”

Ah. There it was. That _shift_ in the air that happened sometimes when the two of them were finally on the same page with each other. 

Like when Sanji had jumped headfirst into Fishman-inhabited waters to save Luffy, or when they protected the others from the Marines in Loguetown, or even when just the pair of them took all of two seconds to take out a hundred Baroque Works goons in Alabasta. 

And now, not surprisingly, to build a bonfire for Luffy so ridiculously huge it would knock their captain’s sandals off. A truly worthy task.

“Don’t cry to Chopper when I kick your skinny ass,” Zoro said. “Again.”

“Hmph.” Sanji grit his teeth and shoved at Zoro as hard as he could before kicking off into a sprint toward the biggest tree he remembered passing earlier. Let’s see how the directionless wanderer planned on winning this one when he couldn’t even find his way back to the campgrounds alone.

Sanji flipped around into his most powerful flying kick and aimed it directly at the base of the most enormous tree he’d ever seen in his life. It was almost a shame to send such a behemoth toppling to the ground with a _crack_ that sounded like furious thunder, but well, again, his captain wanted a bonfire and he had a contest to win.

He could hear Zoro crashing around in the distance, probably slicing anything and everything in his line of sight. Fucking barbarian.

Now. How to separate the trunk into smaller logs? This was where Zoro had the advantage, what with him having more swords than what was strictly necessary for any person to have. He could just cut the trees to pieces in seconds without having to do any actual thinking about it — as if he ever did any actual thinking, anyway.

Maybe if he struck the tree trunk with his foot just _so_ … 

Sanji twisted into a roundhouse, kicking the tree at exactly the angle he was looking for and beamed when it split evenly in half. Who needed shitty swords when all he had to do was use his own two feet?

Once the tree was evenly broken up, Sanji realized he had a dilemma. Yes, he had gathered the perfect amount of firewood, and yes he knew exactly where he needed to take it, but…

How the hell was he going to carry all of this? That giant tree yielded so much wood that Sanji would need two clones of himself to take it all back at once. Making multiple trips was possible, but who knew how long that would take and he didn’t want to risk losing to the moss head, _again_.

Speaking of.

Sanji stopped his persistent strategizing long enough to listen to his surroundings and found that, sure enough, the aimless crashing noises he’d heard earlier had stopped completely. If Sanji didn’t know for sure he’d come out here with Zoro, it would seem as though he were completely alone.

That was worrisome.

Zoro may be able to take care of himself just as well as Sanji can, but he’s never been _this_ quiet. The guy can’t even tone his snores down enough while he sleeps throughout the day and keeps the entire bunkroom awake most nights with it. No, Zoro was certainly not known for his stealth, so something else was up here.

Sanji looked at his towering stack of firewood. Then he looked into the dense jungle behind him. Some strange, unidentifiable animal made its presence known far in the distance. He looked at his firewood again. Then back to the jungle. Firewood. Jungle. Moss.

“Goddammit.”

Decision made, Sanji jogged off in the direction he had last heard slashing noises coming from and hoped to every god he could think of that this wouldn’t take too long and ruin Luffy’s bonfire. Leave it to Zoro to get lost and for Sanji to have to find him and fix everything.

It wasn’t long before he found marimo tracks. Well, technically, rather than tracks, it was more of just one long tunnel cut straight through the vines and trees about two meters in diameter. Where had that idiot been trying to go?

Following the path of devastation, it took only a few minutes to find where it abruptly ended: Directly over a hole in the ground. It’d be almost comical if it weren’t so frustrating.

And Sanji wouldn’t admit this to any soul living or dead, but for a split second, when he first saw the trap Zoro had presumably fallen into, his heart leapt into his throat from pure dread. But — only for a second. If even collapsing buildings in Alabasta couldn’t kill the guy, then _maybe_ just falling into a hole in the ground wouldn’t kill him either.

Sanji crept up to the hole and peered over the edge. It was dark. He couldn’t see anything, especially with the sun making its slow descent toward the top of the canopy, so he turned his head to listen instead.

Curses and grunts that could barely be recognized as an actual language. Yep, he was alive alright. Without preamble, Sanji dug his lighter out and dropped it down into the darkness, the yelp of surprise he received in return letting him know he’d hit his mark.

He gave Zoro a few seconds to recognize what had hit him and once the lighter’s flame flickered to life, Sanji could finally see both his crewmate _and_ the mess he’d gotten himself into.

It was a centuries-old trap, 30 feet deep with edges that slanted upward making it impossible to climb out without a rope. Shit, at least there hadn’t been any cliché spikes at the bottom. Still, seeing Zoro like this… It was just too good of an opportunity for gloating.

“It’s ironic,” Sanji finally said, voice dripping with amusement. “Moss normally grows on the north side of a tree, but you can’t even seem to tell your left from your right, much less how _not_ to fall into an ancient trap.”

The look of disdain Sanji got from below had him grinning and was almost worth the time he was wasting by teasing Zoro about his predicament. Sanji’s self-aware enough to know he can be petty at times.

“Shut up, eyebrows, just get me out of here.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Sanji grumbled, looking around himself for ideas. “Throw me a sword.”

“What? No! Why?” Came Zoro's quick response. “What if—”

“What if you need to fight something off while you’re stuck in a _hole_?” Sanji called back, not actually giving him enough time to form an answer. “Just fucking do it! Trust me, okay? I have an idea.”

A growl and a huff later, Yubashiri came sailing almost aggressively out of the trap and as Sanji lunged to catch it, he vaguely wondered why Zoro had chosen to give him that one in particular.

The trust Zoro displayed in letting Sanji use one of his swords unsupervised was not lost on him, though, as he unsheathed it and carefully set its saya against a tree. Mindful of its sharpness, Sanji cut a few of the sturdier-looking vines down before tying them together, fastening them securely to a tree and letting the loose end drop down to where Zoro was still waiting.

By the time Zoro managed to haul himself out, the sun was beginning to set over the treetops and the two could barely make each other out in the hazy dusk.

“Damn,” Zoro said, looking around. “It got late.”

“Yeah, no shit. Give me my lighter back.” Sanji nudged Zoro with the hilt of his own sword and they traded off, Yubashiri going back in its place at Zoro’s hip and Sanji’s lighter going directly toward the end of a cigarette.

“I’ve got the firewood covered, by the way.” Sanji blew out a stream of smoke and waved his crewmate off, knowing he was still worried about the firewood situation. “I think it’ll be plenty.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Just… I might need you to help me carry it back,” Sanji added, turning away. Looks like they were both going to end up helping each other out today. Something that seemed to happen a lot lately.

“Lead the way then, Cook,” Zoro said before immediately starting off in the wrong direction. _God_ , he was beyond hopeless.

Later, the two trudged back to their campground together in a comfortable silence, loaded down with far more lumber than any normal man should be able to carry. Only when they saw the glow of a much-too-small campfire up ahead did Zoro speak up.

“So… I guess this means you won?”

In all honesty, Sanji had completely forgotten about their contest, and while his pride would have him say yes, a bigger, more humble part of him recognized he’d have never made it back in time without Zoro’s help. Dammit.

“How about…” Sanji stopped just at the edge of the campground and turned to look at his friend. Maybe they did work well together, after all. When the situation called for it, at least. 

“We’ll call it a tie.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](https://ruskaina.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/startaroux)


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